Man charged in Northwest Side bank robbery

Surveillance photo of a man who robbed a Montclare neighborhood bank on Thursday.

Surveillance photo of a man who robbed a Montclare neighborhood bank on Thursday. (FBI photo)

Rosemary SobolTribune reporter

A 64-year-old Chicago man has been charged with robbing a bank inside a grocery store last Thursday in the Montclare neighborhood on the Northwest Side, the FBI announced today.

Theodore Donahue, of the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of bank robbery, according to a statement from the FBI.

Donahue appeared before Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys late Friday when he was formally charged, the statement said. He was released on a personal recognizance bond, pending his next scheduled court appearance, offcials said.

No one was injured during the 11:57 a.m. robbery at the TCF Bank branch, 2520 N. Narragansett Ave. on Mar. 29, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.

"A male offender passed a note to the teller and he demanded money," Perez said.

Donahue handed the teller a deposit slip and a demand note with a “lot of writing’’ including words to the effect of “act normal smile,’’ and “no dye packs, if give dye pack someone is gonna get hurt 1500,’’ according to the criminal complaint.

She gave him money and returned the demand note at his request, which also had a warning about setting off alarms. She then called police.

The robber wore a baseball cap, a business shirt and tie and a dark jacket during the robbery, according to the FBI. He fled but was captured six minutes later -- at 12:07 p.m. -- after police noticed he matched the description of the robber, police said.

A sergeant heard the offender's description and began patrolling the area of Riis Park, and found Donahue near the corner of Fullerton and Narragansett, according to the complaint.

He was taken back to the bank and identified by the teller, Perez said.

According to a police report, the suspect was stopped by police because he was acting "suspiciously" and officers noticed he was wearing two sets of clothing – "sweat clothing" over another outfit.

Police searched him and found $1,467 that was taken in the robbery and in his left pants pocket they found a note like the one presented at the bank, the report said. The suspect also had a bag containing a necktie, black hat, black jacket, and sunglasses.

An audit found he’d taken the same dollar amount during the robbery, which was captured by surveillance cameras, the complaint said.

Donahue told FBI agents that after the robbery, he walked about a block, changed his clothes, and put the sunglasses and clothing he was wearing in a bag, the complaint said.rsobol@tribune.comTwitter: @RosemarySobol1